Missouri won’t get any breathers as the schedule only gets tougher

Sunday

Sep 25, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2011 at 1:00 AM

Joe Walljasper

NORMAN, Okla. — Lost in the discussion of how difficult it would be for the Missouri football team to win in the Southeastern Conference is how difficult it will be to win in this version of the Big 12. The behavior of the league’s leaders is “sad” and “embarrassing,” as Gary Pinkel put it last week, but the product on the field is no joke.

With a new nine-game conference slate — one more than usual — and five Big 12 teams currently ranked, this season could become a battle for bowl eligibility instead of a pursuit of excellence.

The Tigers got the toughest appointment out of the way first, falling 38-28 at top-ranked Oklahoma last night, but they enter October in an unfamiliar position.

Missouri hadn’t lost in September since 2005 — it started the last five seasons 4-0 — but now sits at 2-2 without any get-well-soon opponents on the horizon.

I wouldn’t even say the Tigers have played poorly to reach this point. Their two losses came on the road as significant underdogs. Oklahoma, which was a three-touchdown favorite, never loses at home. This year’s Sooners aren’t as dominant defensively or as good running the ball as the best previous editions, but their ability to exhaust opponents with a rapid-fire passing game is impressive.

The problem for Missouri is it’s going to be the underdog quite a bit this year and is going to have to find a way to win a few.

Entering the season, conventional wisdom was that Missouri had one question mark: sophomore quarterback James Franklin. He’s been a pleasant surprise, a really pleasant surprise. Last night, he threw for 291 yards and ran for 103 more. In two tough road environments — Arizona State and OU — he’s been poised and tough under pressure.

The issues are elsewhere. The deep and supposedly dominant defensive line hasn’t put heat on any Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks and barely touched Oklahoma’s Landry Jones. Major disappointment in that department. Jones makes a lot of defenses look bad with his accuracy, but you can’t let him get so comfortable that he throws for 448 yards, as he did last night.

Actually, last night’s game was almost an afterthought after a week chock full of realignment intrigue. Oklahoma seemed only vaguely aware the game was still scheduled in the first quarter, while Missouri opened the night as if it were a continuation of last year’s magical upset of the Sooners. MU’s offensive line opened enormous holes in OU’s defense for Henry Josey and protected Franklin well. When the line picked up a safety blitz and gave Franklin enough time to find L’Damian Washington across the middle on a 45-yard touchdown, the Tigers led 14-3.

But that was that until the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter. Josey, who was the fastest guy on the field for either team, didn’t get the ball enough. He rushed for 133 yards on only 14 carries.

Some troubling trends continued. The Tigers entered the game 105th in the nation in third-down conversions and succeeded on only 3 of 12 attempts. Kicker Grant Ressel missed two more field goals. This time it was a 46-yarder at the end of the first half that would have cut the deficit to seven points and another 46-yarder in the third quarter.

When Josey broke off a 48-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 31-21, it looked like Ressel’s missed field goals could be costly. An offense that can’t convert third downs needs a good kicker and punter, and to this point, Missouri has had only half of that equation — Trey Barrow has been a weapon as a punter.

Missouri’s defense started to look exhausted in the third quarter. Rock Bridge graduate Trey Millard lowered his shoulder on the sideline and ran over MU undersized safety Matt White. A few plays later, Dominique Whaley caught a pass along the sideline and shrugged off a tackle attempt by White for another big play to the 3-yard line. Whaley eased into the end zone with little resistance on the next play. The Sooners ran 87 plays, and they were particularly tough to stop when he they hustled to the line for a quick snap after a big gain.

But when the game teetered on the edge of getting out of hand, Franklin brought the Tigers back. The one-two punch of Franklin and Josey give Missouri hope of getting this season back on track.